


Ticking Bomb

by MissScorp



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, New Year's Eve, New Years Crack, Poor Tim just wants a Happy New Year
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28496136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissScorp/pseuds/MissScorp
Summary: All Tim Drake wanted was to ring in the new year like the rest of the world: with food, family and friends, and singing Auld Lang Syne when midnight came. The Riddler had other ideas.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 6





	Ticking Bomb

If ever there’d be a night where everything that _could_ go wrong, _would_ go wrong, it’d be on New Years. It was as if the universe collectively decided Tim wasn’t going to ring in the new year like the rest of the world: with food, family and friends, and singing _Auld Lang Syne_ when midnight came. 

Tim knew the holiday wasn’t going to go as planned when Talia arrived that evening at Wayne Manor, demanding the little demon be returned to her, and with a new batch of man-bats at her disposal if her request was refused. 

Raya, of course, didn’t hand the twerp over, and a fight ensued which resulted in the front foyer, ballroom, armory, and a good part of the upstairs demolished by the incendiary device she set off. 

Tim adored Raya. 

He really did. 

She became his fountain of support and comfort during a period in his life where he felt lost, confused, and desperately in need of someone to believe in him. She also stood by him as he not only took up the mantle of Red Robin, but attempted to prove Bruce wasn’t dead, as well. 

Still, there were days where he just didn't enjoy the repercussions that came from being the younger sibling of a woman who used explosives as liberally as some women used perfume. 

_Bruce hadn’t been thrilled about it, either._

No, he outright forbid Raya from ever using any kind of explosives inside Wayne Manor again. 

Not that Raya would adhere to those orders, of course.

Tim almost wished she had some sort of explosive device on her at that moment, given how they were stuck in an elevator at the Wayne Foundation Building. Complicating matters was the Riddler deciding to torment them by asking riddles over the elevator cars intercom system.

“ _I can't go left, I can't go right_. _I am stuck going up and down, all day, every day. What am I_?”

“An elevator.” Tim rolled his eyes. “That was lame, Riddler. Even for you.” 

“ _Well_ , _then_ , _let me challenge you with another riddle_ ,” Riddler gritted. “ _What counts backwards to zero and then delivers an explosive surprise_?” 

It took all of two seconds for Tim to figure out the answer to _that_ one.

“A bomb.” He met Raya’s wide-eyed gaze before looking down at the brightly wrapped box she came here to retrieve before heading to New York to spend New Years with a friend. “It’s a puzzle box bomb.” 

“ _Correct_!” The Riddler let out a cheery little laugh as a soft beep emanated from the box. “ _And if I’m not mistaken, and I know I’m not, you have until the stroke of midnight to find all my riddles and solve the puzzle. If not... well, you’ll ring in the New Year in explosive fashion!”_

“So,” Raya said once the line went dead, “we only have to find god knows how many riddles to solve this puzzle.” 

“In less than two hours.” 

“Otherwise, this ticking bomb I’m holding will shoot off some fireworks nobody’s expecting.” She let out a shaky breath. “Easy peasy.”

“We don’t know where he’s placed these riddles or if they won’t be in any of his Riddler rooms.”

“Knowing Riddler,” she said with a small grimace. “They will be.”

“Not helping here, Nix.” 

“Sorry.”

“Tell me you have a way to disarm that bomb.” The look she gave him said she did not. Tim let out a heavy sigh and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Okay, we need to come up with a plan.” 

Raya snorted. “What we need is Batman, Superman and Flash.”

“Let’s focus on one problem at a time.” Not that contacting Batman or any of the others _wasn’t_ a prevalent issue. It just wasn’t the biggest one they had to solve at that moment. “We’re gonna have to climb out of here.” 

“Correction.” Raya spoke softly but firmly. “ _You_ have to climb out of here.”

“Me?” One brow winged up. “Why me? Why can’t you?” 

“Because someone needs to stay here and keep this box level.” 

“Keep it...” Tim’s heart dropped into his stomach as he realized why she needed to keep the box level. “Lemme guess, he’s rigged it so that if the box tilts too much one way or another it will set it off?”

“Would you expect anything less at this point?” 

“No.” Least of all when someone like the Riddler was involved. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why can’t we ever have a quiet holiday?” 

“This is Gotham is why.” Her lips twitched. “ _Quiet_ and _holiday_ go together about as well as _pickles_ and _chocolate.”_

“Just once,” he huffed as he reached up to push the access panel open, “I’d like to ring in the New Year without something or _someone_ about to get blown up.”

“Ask Santa for that next year.” 

“That’s if Santa doesn’t get kidnapped and killed.” 

“Joker pulled that already, remember?” 

“He did?” Tim frowned. “When?” 

“When he decided to celebrate your first year as Robin by kidnapping all the mall Santa’s.” 

“Oh, right,” he said, making a face. “He dressed up as Jolly ole Joker and delivered boxes of Joker Venom to all the naughty boys and girls.” Tim pulled himself up into the elevator shaft with a few grunts and curses. “You sure you’ll be okay until I get back?” 

“I’ll be fine.” The quiver of fear that seeped into her voice tied knots in his belly. Who wouldn’t be scared, though? Her life depended on her remaining still as a statue. “You just alert everyone to what’s going on.” She lifted wide eyes to his. “And Tim?” 

“Yeah?” 

“Hurry.” 

“Right.” 

...

Bruce decided to move to the Wayne Foundation building after Dick chose to take up residence in Blüdhaven. To live in the building, though, he had to convert the commercial offices occupying the top floor into a residential suite. Having the space renovated wasn’t a problem for Bruce. He kept a construction company he trusted on hand for such purposes. 

Jason becoming his ward prompted Bruce to return to Wayne Manor. He still used the penthouse when there was need for him to stay in the city. He had a private elevator connected directly to an underground bunker where he kept a spare suit of armor, specialty weapons, extra vehicles, and a computer hub that connected to the Batcomputer in the Batcave. 

He also installed a backup generator to keep the power on in the bunker in case of power outages. _Or situations like this_ , Tim thought as he pulled himself up the metal cables. 

If not for the box with the bomb in it, it’d have been a cinch for him and Raya to have reached the bunker. From there, they could have contacted the rest of the family, and let them know what was going on. 

That ticking bomb Raya held in her hands prevented them from doing that, though. 

Much to Tim’s profound relief, he spied his best friend, Conner Kent as he exited the elevator shaft.

“What’re you doing here?” 

“Picked up Raya saying hurry as I flew over and thought I’d better check out what was going on.” 

“Oh, you know, just your usual holiday in Gotham.” 

“Lemme guess...” Conner’s lips twitched. “Joker?” 

“Riddler, actually.” Tim slapped at the dust clinging to his jeans and jacket. “He somehow managed to swap Raya’s present for her friend, Malcolm with one of his puzzle boxes.” He raked a hand through his hair. “It has a bomb in it.” 

“A bomb?” An eyebrow winged upwards. “Seriously?” 

“Afraid so.” 

Conner ran a hand over the back of his head and sighed. “Alright, where’s the bomb?” 

“Raya has it.” He waved back at the open elevator doors. “We were in the elevator when Riddler activated it.” 

“Raya has it?” Conner’s brow furrowed. “Why didn’t she leave it and exit the elevator with you?” 

“Because the bomb will detonate if it doesn’t remain absolutely level.” 

Conner gaped at Tim. “Are you kidding me?” 

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“Sadly, no.” He grimaced. “So, how do you want to do this?”

Tim had been running ways to disarm the bomb as he climbed out of the elevator. He could only see one way that’d buy them enough time to get the bomb safely away from the building before going off. 

“If you freeze the bomb with your breath it might provide us with enough time for you to take it out to Gotham Harbor and drop it.”

As far as plans went, it wasn’t ideal. There was any number of things that could go wrong.

However, it was the best plan they had given the circumstances. 

...

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Raya asked as Conner carefully took the puzzle box from her. “Because we’ll essentially be blowing up ourselves and another of Bruce’s residences if it doesn’t.” 

“Another of Bruce’s residences?” Conner looked between Tim and Raya with amusement. “How many of Bruce’s buildings have you used explosives in?”

“You mean today?” Raya tried for brevity but the slight tremble to her voice gave away her nervousness. Not that Tim could blame her. Trapped in an elevator with a Riddler puzzle box set to explode wasn’t his idea of New Years fun. “Or since Christmas?” 

“Lets go with today...” he said. “Save Christmas for when there isn’t a ticking bomb waiting to explode.”

“Just Wayne Manor.” Her eyes shifted to the box encased in a thin film of ice Conner now held. “Long as that doesn’t go off.”

“There a reason you used explosives in Wayne Manor?” 

“Talia came for the little demon,” Tim supplied. “Raya told her no and punctuated it with an incendiary device.” 

“In my defense,” Raya said as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “Talia brought a lot of man-bats to back her up.” 

“Talia always brings a lot of man-bots to back her up.” 

“Hence why I used an incendiary device.” 

“Gotta admit.” Conner chuckled softly. “Using an incendiary device was an effective way of handling the situation.” 

“See?” Raya shot Tim a smug look. “Conner gets why I set off that incendiary device.” 

“Never said I didn’t get why you set it off, Nix.” His lips twitched at her harrumph. “Just that you went a tad overboard with the ingredients you used to make said incendiary device.”

“I must have been absent the day Batman taught the class on doing things half-ass.” 

“Have a feeling you’ll be getting a lesson in not using explosives in the house after this.” 

“Have to get out of this situation, first, Double R.” 

“I’ll handle that part,” Conner told them. “You two get down to the bunker and alert the others.”

“Conner...” Raya started but he cut her off.

“Go on, Nix, go.”

She went. 

Not happily. 

Tim didn’t blame her. 

He wasn’t thrilled about leaving his best friend in an elevator with a bomb, either.

His only consolation was that Conner Kent wasn’t an ordinary human being. He was half-Kryptonian. While that didn’t make him as fast as Flash or Superman nor omnipotent, it did make him faster and better able to handle a ticking bomb than either himself or Batman. 

Tim was thankful for that when the bomb was safely disposed of ten minutes later without any losses of lives, limbs or damage to property. 

Riddler was returned to his cell in Arkham at 11:59 while Tim watched the ball drop with Conner and the rest of the family. 

In Times Square. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there and welcome! This started last year with a prompt about New Years, Riddler, and bombs. This doesn’t follow any comic storyline. It’s just a little holiday crack and fun to start 2021 with. 
> 
> If you enjoy it, please kudo it! Thanks for reading and Happy New Year! 🥳


End file.
